In an apology, Rasmussen wrote: "I understand that this appeal has now provided an opportunity for people to misconstrue my ideas into a distortion that suggests I sympathize with sex offenses and those who commit them or that I blame the victim involved. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and I apologize for anything my statement has done to suggest that I don’t feel enormous sympathy for the victim and her suffering."

She added: “I know that Brock Turner was tried and rightfully convicted of sexual assault. I realize that this crime caused enormous pain for the victim. I don’t condone, support, or sympathize with the offense or the offender. I was asked by a court in California to provide a character statement as a standard and necessary part of the sentencing process.

“I believe that Brock’s character was seriously affected by the alcohol he consumed, and I felt that the court needed to consider this issue during their sentencing deliberations.”

Rasmussen called the 20-year-old student, whom she has known since childhood in Ohio, “a sweetheart, not a monster," in her initial letter to the judge two months ago.

In the letter, she wrote: "There is absolutely no way Brock went out that night with rape on his mind. I don't think it's fair to base the fate of the next ten years of his life on the decision of a girl who doesn't remember anything but the amount she drank.

"I am not blaming her directly for this, because that isn’t right. But where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn’t always because people are rapists."

"They just simply are not welcomed in our community," Guercio told Inside Edition.

The fallout over the lenient sentence is reaching all the way to The White House as Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday: "Sexual assault has no place in our college campus, it has no place in our military, it has no place in our society."

A former high school football star who was wrongly convicted of rape has also joined the chorus of outrage.

Brian Banks, who was sentenced to six years in prison, said: My luxuries were taken away at the age of 16 for a crime I did not commit. I don’t think there was any consideration in sentencing me. Our system is broken and it needs repair."